Modern-day slavery traps 36 million: report

Forced to pick cotton, grow cannabis, prostitute themselves, fight wars or clean up after the wealthy - some 35.8 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery, a new report says.

The second annual Global Slavery Index said new methods showed some 20 per cent more people were enslaved across the world than originally thought.

"There is an assumption that slavery is an issue from a bygone era. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty," said Andrew Forrest, chairman of the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation which produced the report.

Its definition of slavery includes debt bondage, forced marriage and the sale or exploitation of children, as well as human trafficking and forced labour.

The report, covering 167 countries, said slavery contributed to the production of at least 122 goods from 58 countries. The International Labour Organisation estimates profits from forced labour are US$150 billion.

"From the Thai fisherman trawling fishmeal, to the Congolese boy mining diamonds, from the Uzbek child picking cotton, to the Indian girl stitching footballs... their forced labour is what we consume," read the report.